Auranet

Non-Disclosure Product from Helkom

Thinking about maybe signup with Telkom's Do Broadband? Good Option if you use 96% Local South-African Bandwidth only...

Why Do I say so? Well, I got a Do thingy with 384kb and 1Gb International for a total of R201/month, this includes a Roll-Over of 10Gb Local only as soon as the International is used up.

Do you get what you Do pay for though? Yes, if you read the Fine Script and Terms & Conditions, because what is not mentioned outright is that the first Gb (the 1Gb International) is so-called "mixed" traffic, meaning this Gb will include local usage. So if you make use of popular services like Email (your account is most likely Local Hosted), any of the Local Banks, Ster Kinekor, Telkom's own site with niceties like Encyclopeadia Brittanica Online and maybe a Locally distributed Antivirus like Eset that updates daily, and Lo and Behold, don't think to use Ubuntu Linux with it's conveniently mirrored Local Update Servers, your 1Gb Cap will be tapped to the threshold, and then suddenly, one day not so far into the month, you won't be able to open just about anything anymore. Because suddenly, you find out that not only does Lots and lots of websites depend on Google for a lot of their content, but Lots and Lots of local websites and services are actually hosted Overseas, where Server space and bandwidth is way cheaper, so no more using lots and lots of South African sites.

To demonstrate, I installed Ubuntu Ultimate Edition 2.5 over the weekend, Updates was a total of 310Mb odd, I syncronised my Online folder, downloaded Emails and installed a few reaaaaly small plugins like Yoono for Firefox. Tadaa!! No more Google, I used 1Gb of "Mixed" traffic, but usage stats shows only 200Mb was International.

If their Monitoring system can track my International usage, surelly they can split the usage and give me my Genuine 1Gb International and let the Local usage go off the Roll-over total...?

P.S. You might wonder why I have Do installed at Home if I own a WISP?   Well, see following topic, The Mechanic's Car